By telling the American people that he was "a Ford, not a Lincoln," he not only lowered public expectations about what he might accomplish, he also reassured the American people that the days of the imperial presidency in the style of Johnson and Nixon had ended. | By telling the American people that he was "a Ford, not a Lincoln," he not only lowered public expectations about what he might accomplish, he also reassured the American people that the days of the imperial presidency in the style of Johnson and Nixon had ended. |